Berlin revisited: Part two
Let’s make it short: Buy yourselves tickets for this Roxette tour! You won’t regret that. Why? Read on!
Roxette had hit Berlin this summer already with a fabulous show, so what would you expect for a second gig in the same town? New songs? Hm yes, partly. A new stage? Yep, people say good things about it. And they are right.
The design of the fall leg of this tour substantially differs from that of the summer tour. While half a year ago the stage still had the charm of a village party, now you get overwhelmed by a smart effective light show. Red curtains in the background remind you of an old style theatre stage. Romeo and Juliet, that sort of plays. Fits the love ballads Roxette got famous with in the heydays. But then there are the remote controlled light beams, hundreds of lights in the background forming shapes of flowers and hearts, and the fog. Colors all over. Mostly red and pink, then blue, green and orange. Magically fitting the songs being played as powerfully as never before. I guess, huge parts of the audience attended the concert with the expectation to hear the well-known top 10 hits the radio keeps playing here and there, have some nice memories, dream a little and go home. “Nix da” (not so), as the German would say here. 10,000 people in Berlin’s O2 World got blown away by the wave of power pop rolling over them from the stage. Heavy guitar riffs (thank you, Christoffer!), bouncing band members, Marie and Per rushing over the stage, interacting with the audience all the time, that probably made the best Roxette concert I’ve ever seen. Was that still pop or is that already rock? Certainly a mix of both worlds. Perfect mix, I’d say.
And amazingly, the audience joins in. People stand and cheer, even in the last rows. Cigarette lighters, LED lamps, glow sticks everywhere. Happy faces on the stage, happy faces in front of the stage. Band and audience sing along. Happy ending coming up!
Well, almost.
“Way Out” is being missed a lot, I hear. The way the band came back from the small break, Pelle sat at the drums, starting the famous rythm. That had style! Same thoughts about the lack of “Silver Blue”. Christoffer torturing his guitar was unique and drastically changed Roxette’s reputation in the eyes of those who only knew the sha-la-la flower pop songs. Roxette, if there is a chance to bring back those pearls then bring them back, please. Honestly.
Ah, you might say I did not answer the questions of the article’s first part? Let me see:
Roxette rocked the house. And the city. And the world.
The new stage is awesome. Worth enough to buy another ticket should you have seen the band in the summer already. It’s different now. Much better even though you would not believe that. Try and see!
Yep, Chris wore the wizard hat during the second da capo. Mystically fitting the theater mood of the stage setup.
Marie looks good in silver. You may agree that she actually always looks good.
Per is a rocker by heart. No doubt. Would love to hear him performing the songs he listens to on his iPod. Maybe one day…
Berliners can have fun. Video footage proving this is already available on the usual video portals.
Enjoy the photos after the page break! And just in case I have not said that often enough yet: Get yourselves tickets!!
Technical errors may occur.
|
October 26th, 2011
Internal reference code for TDR's Good Reporters: [tdr 140]
This article was posted here on TDR in these categories:
TDR:Live, TDR:Roxette, vintage.